Southampton vs. Leeds United 8/13/22 EPL Soccer Picks, Predictions, Odds

Southampton and Leeds United face off on Saturday in an English Premier League showdown at St. Mary’s Stadium. When these two teams faced off on April 2nd, the two teams played to a 1-1 draw. Southampton has won four of the last five games against Leeds united across all contests. 

There are a ton of questions around Southampton this season and in the first game against Tottenham Hotspur, they struggled. James Ward Prowse scored in the 12th minute, and Southampton looked like tye might be off to a flying start. As the game went on though, the defense really struggled, and they ended up losing by 4-1. There was an own goal during the stretch of the defense struggling. Southampton did have 42 percent of the possession, but they didn’t do a whole lot with that possession after the first goal and they only had two total shots on target. The good news heading into this game is that this is a much better team, and if they can clean up the defense just a little bit, they should be in good shape here. 

On the other side of this matchup is Leeds United who opened up their season against the Wolves and they were able to secure the victory. Leeds gave up the first goal in the 9th minute and they were playing on their back foot. Around the 20th minute, the game switched and the offense started to find success. Rodrigo Moreno scored a goal in the 26th minute and it was an own goal in the 74th minute that was the difference as they were defeated. Leeds only had 40 percent of the possession and were outshot by two shots, but were still able to secure the victory. Even though Leeds only gave up one goal, the defense still showed some holes, especially early and that is something that is going to need to be improved upon. 

Even though Southampton lost their first game, I did see some solid things for the team, and I expect they are going to find better success. Leeds isn’t as good of an offensive team and they are going to struggle in this game to get good scoring chances. Look for Southampton to open up the scoring early here, and they will secure the victory on the run line.